Alisher Usmanov The
metals magnate owns Russian daily newspaper Kommersant. In 2011, he
sacked the editor after he published a picture of a ballot paper with
"Putin, go f*!k yourself" scrawled on it in red ink.

Usmanov has lost $6.4 billion so far this year. He controls 48% of
Metalloinvest, Russia's largest iron ore producer. He also has a share
in Twitter(TWTR, Tech30) and Airbnb, and co-owns English soccer team Arsenal, Bloomberg data show.

He is also the president of the International Fencing Federation.

Andrey MelnichenkoThe
self-made coal and minerals magnate is another Russian billionaire
feeling the chilling effect of Western sanctions and falling oil prices.
He has lost nearly 40% of his wealth, or about $5.8 billion.

Sergey Galitsky The
founder and owner of Russia's biggest food retailer Magnit is down over
$5 billion. The soccer enthusiast is famous for pouring more than $250
million into his local Krasnodar club, building an arena and a sports
academy.

He made his fortune on the sale of joint venture TNK-BP to Rosneft.
Together with his partner German Khan, Fridman controls Alfa Bank,
Russia's largest private lender.

Vladimir PotaninThe
former deputy prime minister is currently the head of the world's
biggest nickel producer Norilsk Nickel. His wealth has fallen by $2.8
billion, or about 20%.

Potanin was one of the main
backers of Russia's bid to host the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and he
invested heavily in the development of the Olympic village.

German KhanMikhail Fridman's partner in Alfa Bank sold his stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $3.3 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg.

He's lost $2.5 billion this year, equivalent to about 22% of his wealth.

Mikhail ProkhorovProkhorov's company Onexim group owns stakes in the Russian banking, energy and mining sectors. He's lost $2.4 billion.

Prokhorov also owns the Brooklyn Nets. He said earlier this year he was
considering moving the company that controls the NBA team to Russia in
order to comply with Vladimir Putin's call for Russian-owned companies
to be based there.

He has criticized Russian policies in the past, condemning the country's anti-gay laws.

miércoles, noviembre 27, 2013

The chair of the Royal Canadian Mint, who also served as an adviser on international taxation to the federal Finance Department, helped engineer the transfer of millions of dollars of a prominent Canadian family through offshore tax havens in what others involved characterized as a "tax avoidance scheme," documents obtained by CBC News show.

Slightly more than $8 million was moved through offshore entities in Bermuda, Barbados and Antigua, later prompting allegations that the arrangement, if exposed, could lead to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in "taxes, interest and penalties." The documents show there were also concerns about secrecy and instructions to shred files.

The hundreds of records are part of a sprawling lawsuit against James Barton Love, a Toronto tax lawyer who chairs the mint's board of directors, and others by descendants of former prime minister Arthur Meighen. Quietly settled in 2011, the lawsuit saw family members allege that the offshore transactions, which began in 1996, were unlawful and negligent and that Love "breached his fiduciary duties and acted oppressively."

Love countered in sworn statements that the offshore manoeuvres "resulted in significant savings of Canadian tax" for Meighen's heirs — an amount he estimated at $1 million.

He also emphatically denied any breach of trust and said he had "specifically advised" there were risks to the offshore arrangement.

None of the allegations was ever tested in court.

'Complex transaction'

Love, a close friend of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who was appointed to the Mint's board in 2006, was also a trustee for most of the last decade of the Arthur Meighen Trust, an entity set up by the former Conservative PM in 1949 to distribute his wealth to his family. Before taking on that formal role, documents show Love had been an adviser and "close" friend to several Meighen family members.

If you have more information on this story, or other investigative tips to pass on, please email investigations@cbc.ca.

It was in that advisory role that Love, in the mid-1990s, informed the managers of the Meighen Trust that they could get "Canadian tax relief on the income from about 40 per cent of the [trust] assets" if they moved the money offshore, Meighen's great-granddaughters say in their statement of claim.

The use of secret accounts in offshore jurisdictions like Switzerland or the Cayman Islands has been thrust into the media limelight in recent years, following a spate of data leaks — including from several Swiss banks — that exposed account-holders’ identities and information. The most recent large leak was made public in April, when CBC News teamed up with the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to report on secret accounts linked to 130,000 people worldwide.

BEIJING -- Anywhere else in the world, placement on a rich list would be cause for celebration.

Not so in China.

For
China's richest, being listed on wealth reports can be deeply
undesirable, inviting unwanted extra scrutiny from tax collectors to a
general public increasingly suspicious of the origins of the wealth that
has poured into the mainland from uncertain corners over the last few
decades.

The latest person to find herself facing this tough media
spotlight: Kong Dongmei, the granddaughter of late Chinese Communist
Party leader Mao Zedong.

With assets estimated at around $815
million, Kong and her husband, Chen Dongsheng, placed 242nd on Chinese
magazine New Fortune's 500 Rich List for 2013 released this week.

The specific kind of attention attracted by such an appearance has
many nicknames. One Chinese author dubbed it "The Curse of Forbes";
others have called these wealth reports "sha zhu bang" or "kill pig
list."

Whatever you call it, there is no denying that the lists can be perilous for China's wealthy. A study last year entitled "The Price of Being a Billionaire in China: Evidence Based on Hurun Rich List," found
that companies listed on the notorious "Hurun Rich List" had their
market values rapidly decline within three years – victims of increased
tax audits, cutting off of government subsidies and financial
investigations.

Indeed, many who have found themselves among the
lucky few have soon after landed in jail as media and government
interest shifted to their business dealings.

'Honest and clean'The
irony that the granddaughter of the country's founding Communist leader
is now one of its wealthiest citizens was not lost on the public here
-- that despite carefully cultivating a veneer of modest living, Mao's offspring have in fact been profiting handsomely.

In
2009, another grandchild of Mao, Major General Mao Xinyu, told Chinese
media, "The Mao Family heritage is honest and clean. None of the Mao
family members have entered business. They all live on their modest
salaries."

Meanwhile Kong authored four bestsellers about her grandfather and even ran a bookstore that specialized in Communist culture.

The
revelation that Mao's granddaughter has risen to become one of China's
wealthiest citizens only confirms what many in this country increasingly
believe: Patronage is the path to wealth in today's Chinese society.

That perception is backed up by a recent survey conducted by Tsinghua University
and reported in the Beijing Evening Post that found that college
graduates in China who had a parent serving as a government official
were found to earn 15 percent more than their peers.

The study
also found that children of well-connected families were more likely to
be recruited into sectors like finance, government agencies and
international organizations, while other graduates ended up in
industries like manufacturing and construction.

lunes, marzo 04, 2013

With an estimated $73 billion fortune, Carlos Slim Helu tops Forbes' list of the world's richest billionaires for the fourth year in a row.

This year Forbes has uncovered a record 1,426 billionaires. That is 200 more than we found in 2012, another record breaking year. It’s also nearly 10 times as many as Forbes pinned down in 1987, the year we began tracking fortunes around the world.

The group is worth $5.4 trillion, an astounding 17 percent jump from a year ago. The average net worth of a Forbes billionaire is $3.8 billion, $100 million more than a year ago. More than two-thirds of the world’s richest added to their fortunes. Only 259 from last year’s list are poorer than a year ago. Sixty dropped out of the ranks, including Zynga’s Mark Pincus and former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. Another eight passed away.

Mexico’s Carlos Slim is the richest person in the world for the fourth year in a row, followed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. At number three for the first time is Spaniard Amancio Ortega, founder of fast fashion phenom Zara. He is worth $57 billion, up $19.5 billion, making him the year’s biggest gainer. Legendary investor Warren Buffett slips to number 4, the first time since 2000 that he hasn’t been among the top 3. L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt moves back into the top 10 for the first time since 1999 and reclaims the title of world’s richest woman.

Among the notable newcomers were founders of some of the world’s hottest brands – such as Dolce & Gabbana, Tory Burch and Chobani yogurt, as well as the first ever billionaires from Angola, Guernsey, Nepal, Swaziland and Vietnam.

Net worth up $4 billion versus 2012 but still $1 billion shy of his all-time record; boost came from surging stock prices at his financial arm, Grupo Financiero Inbursa, and at his Grupo Carso industrial and retail giant.

Pan-Latin American mobile telecom outfit America Movil remains his most valuable holding at $36.3 billion; the company spread its wings to Europe in the past year, buying pieces of Dutch telecom company KPN and Telekom Austria

Bought a majority of struggling Spanish soccer team Real Oviedo.

Latin America’s most generous person, his foundation pledged to translate into Spanish 1,000 videos from the Khan Academy education nonprofit website. Slim also hosted Bill Gates in late February; the two men announced they are funding research to improve farmers' yields and reduce hunger.

World's biggest philanthropist has given away $28 billion, the vast majority of it to his foundation, which is working to eradicate such diseases as polio and malaria.

Net worth is up by $6 billion vs. March 2012 due to gains in his investment portfolio. Holdings include tech hygiene firm Ecolab and Mexican Coke bottler FEMSA, both up more than 20% in the past year.

Microsoft stock --he owns about 5% of the company -- accounts for just 18% of his net worth.

In February the first 12 non-Americans joined Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, in which the ultra-wealthy pledge to give away at least half their net worth to charity. New pledgers include Richard Branson of the U.K. and India’s Azim Premji.

Gates recently said the only thing left on his bucket list was, "Don't die."

Moves to number 3, up from number 5 richest last year. Now ahead of Warren Buffett.

Driving the jump is a more than 50% rise in value of Inditex shares; Ortega, who stepped down as the firm’s chairman in 2011, still owns nearly 60% of the shares.

He also has real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth more than $4 billion, that includes iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant), plus properties in Madrid, London, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

Year’s second biggest gainer added $9.5 billion to his fortune as Berkshire Hathaway shares rose 26% year over year

First time he’s not among top three richest since 2000.

Investors applaud his dealmaking savvy, and this year was no exception as he made a couple of notable moves: in February, announced a deal with Brazilian billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann's 3G Capital to snap up iconic ketchup producer H.J. Heinz Co. for $23.2 billion; bought Oriental Trading in November 2012.

World’s second most generous person, he gave $1.5 billion to the Gates Foundation in July 2012, bringing his lifetime giving to nearly $17.3 billion. On his birthday in August 2012 Buffett pledged $3 billion of stock to his children's foundations.

They own a combined 84% of Koch Industries, country’s second largest private company with $115 billion in estimated sales, up 15% in the past year

Also got boost from improving operations at Georgia Pacific, maker of Angel Soft and Quilted Northern toilet paper, Brawny paper towels, and Dixie cups. Sold more than $1 billion worth of toilet paper in 2011.

David, who runs the chemical technology side of Koch Industries, is the richest New Yorker.

Things didn’t go so well on the political front as brothers failed in their quest to unseat Barack Obama from the White House ("Bitterly disappointing," he told Forbes in an interview after the election).

Once again Asia’s richest person and the only one from the region among the world’s top 20 richest.

His fortune jumped $5.5 billion to $31 billion, as shares of his biggest holdings, Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy, all rose more than 10%. He also received 2012 dividends of $860 million.

Li's businesses employ 260,000 ­people around the world in 52 countries.

Li-controlled companies bought British gas supplier Wales & West Utilities for $1 billion in October; his third utilities acquisition in the U.K. in 24 months. He now supplies gas to a quarter of all Brits.

Investor in such tech outfits as Facebook, spotify, and social TV platform Stevie.

Heiress to L’Oreal cosmetics fortune jumps to 9th richest in 2013 from 15th richest last year, thanks to a more than 30% rise in the price of L’Oreal stock. Her net worth is $6 billion higher than a year ago.

Now the world’s richest woman. She last cracked the top 10 in 1999.

Her father founded L’Oreal. Bettencourt and her family own more than 30% of the company.

Bettencourt’s assets were placed under the guardianship of her daughter in 2011 after a three-year legal battle. Bettencourt, widowed and age 90, suffers from dementia. Her grandson, Jean-Victor Meyers, took her spot on the L’Oreal board in February 2012.

Falls from no. 4 in world to no. 10 due to more information about his ownership stake.

Also a factor: Forbes now values his direct stake in Christian Dior, which in turn has a 41% stake in LVMH and trades at a near 20% discount to the underlying shares; previously we had valued the shares in LVMH.

LVMH shares rose more than 6%; U.S. sales grew at a faster rate than sales in Asia region in the fourth quarter

Arnault denied reports that his request for Belgian citizenship last year was related to the country’s tax policies.

It was announced in October that he will be knighted for his services in the U.K.

France’s budget deficit is approximately 85 billion euro and the tax would have brought in only about 200 million euro… a tiny drop in a very large bucket. But as we know, bloated Socialist governments know no bounds when it comes to satisfying their insatiable greed and intense desire to enslave the people.

Unemployment in France has risen for 19 straight months and embattled President Hollande’s popularity continues its downward spiral. Why? The people are feeling the effects of his Socialist policies.

France’s continuous rise in unemployment was predictable; the laws of economics are well-known.

Socialist thinkers, however, do not have the mental ability to understand economics. They are takers and all they understand is greed and power. Take from those who have until they have no more. That’s it.

With Socialism, the goal is always to impoverish the people and place all the wealth in the hands of the rulers – the government – the elites. Destruction of the “middle class” is essential for Socialism to flourish.

Isn’t it ironic that Hollande’s “tax the rich” campaign platform was enough to get him elected, but now the people are feeling the effects and they are unhappy. France, like America, obviously doesn’t teach economics in public/government schools.

But it’s more than that… so many people inexplicably think that taxing the rich means more money for them or more money for the poor. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Just as France’s “tax the rich” scheme has caused sustained job losses among the people, the same has played out in other Socialist countries like Italy, Greece and Britain.

While more people are plunged into poverty, the bloated, life-sucking thieves in government live in the lap of luxury and enrich themselves and their pals by taking more and more from the people.

This is playing out in America as well.

Taking from the “rich” enables governments to slide the scale downward. Today, $250,000 is considered rich (try living in New York or California on that) and tomorrow, $150,000 will be. The scale will continue downward until YOU are considered rich.

That’s right… they’re coming after YOU, as all Socialist governments do. After all, you didn’t build that. It belongs to the government and their objective is to take it from you.

Meanwhile, the people who inexplicably and mistakenly think that taxing the rich gives more to ‘the people,’ refuse to actually look at the increased poverty it brings. As they regurgitate the catchy phrases the media and politicians feed them about ‘leveling the playing field’ and ‘fairness,’ they won’t even look at where people’s hard-earned money is really going. Instead, like mindless minions, they want more taken from them – the people – to feed the government Leviathan.

The government itself and everything they spend money on comes from us, the 53% of Americans who pay taxes. The mindless minions who regurgitate the “tax the rich” mantra need to explain how items such as these benefit the people:

You can find your own examples of outrageous government spending that does nothing to help us, the people. There are plenty to choose from.

For the four items delineated above, there’s about half a trillion dollars alone. How do any of these things help the people? Since Obamacare is included, some readers might be stuck on that one. Let’s explain.

One may think Obamacare helps the people, but they fail to understand that it will hurt everyone; especially low-income families and seniors.

If the complaint before Obamacare was the high cost of healthcare, the cost has now increased tremendously, so how does that help anyone? Have your premiums increased? Is your old plan no longer available?

Did you know that low-income families used to receive free medical care at any hospital they chose to go to? As mandated by the government long ago, no one could be turned away. Now these families will be pursued by government and required to pay for health coverage. What do you think all the extra IRS employees are for?

As for seniors, ‘take a pill’ as Obama famously said. $1.1 trillion is being stolen from Medicare – which all taxpayers pay into – to feed the Obamacare government beast. Even a fifth grader can figure out that this will greatly diminish care for our seniors. Why else do they need the ‘end of life’ counseling every year and why is there now a committee of 15 unelected government bureaucrats who decide what care people will and won’t receive?

Don’t forget, Obamacare merely mandates that everyone purchase health coverage. It is health coverage, not care, for all. The transformation of America’s free-market healthcare system into a government-controlled socialized healthcare system will severely degrade health care, just as it has in other countries.

Why do you think foreign leaders and people with financial means have come to America for serious treatment? In a few short years, there will be no where for them, or us, to go.

Again, the objective of Socialism is to take from the people to redistribute to themselves and increase their power over the people. Taking over our healthcare system increases the number of people they can take from and have power over; it was never about giving “healthcare for all.” It’s about forcing everyone but themselves to pony up for coverage. But I digress…

Greed and power are must-haves among Socialist rulers/elites. France’s President Hollande is one example among many.

Regarding the mindless “tax the rich” minions, they clearly have not thought it through, they have not educated themselves, they know little about history and they cast their votes for these oppressors. All the while, they unwittingly call for these elites to be further enriched off the backs of the people.

Will these mindless minions think it through before it’s at their doorstep and they are added to the ranks of the poor? Doubt it.

15th richest: Charles County, Md.

Median household income: $87,007
The first of five Maryland counties to make our list, Charles saw a population burst of 21.6% in the first decade of the 21st century.
With Maryland taking up a full third of our list, it's important to
note that this state's residents took the sixth spot in our ranking of
the most generous states in the U.S.

14th richest: St. Mary's County, Md.

Median household income: $88,444
The median household income in St. Mary's skyrocketed from about
$72,000 in 2009 to more than $88,000 in 2010, the biggest percentage
increase (roughly 22%) on our richest counties list.
This beautiful county lies on the Chesapeake Bay across from
Virginia, and is home to the Lexington Park neighborhood as well as a
state park and a regional airport.

13th richest: Calvert County, Md.

Median household income: $88,862
Calvert lies just across the Patuxent River from St. Mary's County,
which holds the 14th spot on our list. The median household income in
this county didn't see the same boom that St. Mary's saw year over year,
though.
Its income remained essentially flat, decreasing less than 1% from 2009.
Veterans make up roughly 10% of the population, according to the most recent census data.

12th richest: Montgomery County, Md.

Median household income: $89,155
With almost 1 million residents, Montgomery is one of the largest
counties on our list. It's no surprise that this county is so large,
since it's situated just north of Washington, D.C., and only an hour
from Baltimore.
More than half of the county's population has a bachelor's degree or
higher and the home values in this area are astounding. The median value
of owner-occupied homes was $482,900 from 2006-10.

11th richest: Nassau County, N.Y.

Median household income: $91,104
Just a hop, skip and a subway ride from Manhattan, Nassau County contains a large chunk of Long Island and Long Beach.
The only New York county to make the list, this area has an extremely
low poverty rate, with only 5% of residents living below the poverty
line. But what really sets Nassau apart is its diversity, with 20.7% of
foreign-born residents and 27.3% of its residents speaking a language
other than English at home.

10th richest: Morris County, N.J.

Median household income: $91,469
Morris just barely snuck into the top 10 richest counties after its
median household income fell by roughly $3,000 from 2009. The county's
residents are less than an hour from Manhattan, and the area includes
several lakes and state parks. Golfing is big in Morris county, with
about 20 places to tee off.

9th richest: Prince William County, Va.

Median household income: $92,655
Not to be outdone, Virginia matches Maryland with the most counties
on our list. Prince William has seen its median household income
increase from 2009, even as the national average declined.
Prince William is outside of Washington, D.C., just like several
other on the list. What makes it stand out from the rest, though, is the
43.2% population boom
it has seen in the past decade. The area is home to many historical
sites, including the Manassas National Battlefield Park, where two Civil
War battles took place

8th richest: Somerset County, N.J.

Median household income: $94,270
With one of the most prestigious colleges in the country just outside
the county line (Princeton University), it's no surprise the education
levels of Somerset County's residents are very high. Almost 93% of
residents have a high school diploma and roughly 50% have a bachelor's
degree or higher.

7th richest: Stafford County, Va.

Median household income: $94,317
With just 128,961 residents, Stafford County is one of the smallest
population areas on our list, but what it lacks in size it makes up for
in jobs. The county's unemployment rate is just under 5%, much better than the national average of 8.3%.
The wealth
of jobs must put residents in the giving mood, since the state of
Virginia also came in at the third spot on our list of the most generous
states in the U.S.

6h richest: Douglas County, Colo.

Median household income: $94,909
The only Colorado county and the only county west of the Mississippi
to make our list, there's something special about Douglas. The large
youth population (30.5% of residents are under the age of 18) suggests
that the county is a good place for families.
Lying just outside of Denver, residents only need to travel
up Interstate 25 to get to the Mile-High City. The rural beauty must
attract residents, as there are only 339.7 people per square mile and
the population has seen a 62.4% increase from 2000-10.

5th richest: Arlington County, Va.

Median household income: $94,986
Living in Arlington isn't cheap, so you'd better be making at least
the median household income to live in this county just outside
Washington, D.C.
Arlington may not be the richest, but it does set a record for real
estate values. The median value of owner-occupied homes in Arlington
county is $571,700 -- almost $70,000 more than any other county on our
list. This county also stands out as the most educated on our list -- 70.1% of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

4th richest: Hunterdon County, N.J.

Median household income: $97,874
The richest county in New Jersey, Hunterdon just missed the
six-figure mark in median household income. Located just west of
Somerset County, which took the eighth-richest county spot, Hunterdon's
income has actually crossed the $100,000 mark before.
While some might assume Hunterdon's residents make high salaries by
commuting to New York City, where salaries are higher than the national
average, the truth is that almost 94% of residents stay in-state for
work. In fact, more residents commute to Pennsylvania for work than New York.

3rd richest: Howard County, Md.

David J. Brantley

Median household income: $101,771
With an astounding 58.3% of residents holding a bachelor's degree or
higher, Howard County shows that higher education can pay. One of only
three counties that have a six-figure median household income in the
U.S., Howard is between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., attracting the
extremely affluent. The median value of owner-occupied homes in the county is $456,200.

2nd richest: Fairfax County, Va.

Median household income: $103,010
Fairfax County is one of the largest counties in terms of population
to make our list (1,081,726 residents in 2010), but it is also notable
for its real estate. Fairfax is one of only two counties on our list to
break the half-million mark in home values. Coming in at $507,800 for
the median value of owner-occupied homes, the county truly has some
spectacular real estate.
Government buffs will be excited to learn Langley (headquarters of
the CIA) is within the county line, so government employees must be
making a decent amount of money these days. Also, the unemployment rate
in the county has been astoundingly low historically, hitting 1.4% in
1999.

The richest county in America: Loudoun County, Va.

Median household income: $119,540
With a median household income that is a full $16,000 higher than our
second-place finisher, Loudoun county has trounced the competition on
its way to becoming the richest county in America.
Another county surrounding our nation's capital, Loudoun borders West
Virginia and Maryland and is the home to Washington Dulles
International Airport. The Appalachian Trail runs along its western
border and the area was largely an agricultural community until the airport was built in the 1960s.
The population has continued to increase, with the area nearly doubling in population size from 2000 to 2010. The poverty rate is also at an incredibly low 3.2%.

viernes, diciembre 23, 2011

As far back as he can remember, people told Hari Kishan Pippal that he was unclean, with a filthiness that had tainted his family for centuries. Teachers forced him to sit apart from other students. Employers sometimes didn't bother to pay him.
Pippal is a dalit, a member of the outcast community once known as untouchables. Born at the bottom of Hinduism's complex social ladder, that meant he could not eat with people from higher castes or drink from their wells. He was not supposed to aspire to a life beyond that of his father, an illiterate cobbler. Years later, he still won't repeat the slurs that people called him.
Now, though, people call him something else.
They call him rich.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal speaks in his office in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal inspects shoes at his shoe factory in Agra.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal poses for a photograph inside his
Heritage Hospital, one of the largest private medical
facilities in the north Indian city of Agra.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal sits for a photograph with his family at
his home in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal sits with his granddaughter at his home
in Agra, India.

Saurabh Das / AP

Hari Kishan Pippal talks on his mobile phone as his wife
watches television in their bedroom at their home in Agra,
India.

jueves, diciembre 01, 2011

While the European economies tumble like so many dominoes courtesy of the sovereign debt crisis and the United States juggles its own unwieldy debt and unemployment problems, it is comforting to know that Canada’s richest people are safe and snug in their tony neighbourhoods and spectacular mansions.

With the help of Environics Analytics, we have listed Canada’s richest neighbourhoods by Forward Sortation Area (the first three letters in your postal code) based on the most recent average net worth of the residents.

Not all rich neigbourhoods are created equal however. The homes in the leafy, ravine-crossed area of Rosedale (Canada’s 3rd richest postal code), where generations of Canada’s bluebloods have grown up, looks quaint and tiny when compared with the castles that dot the landscape in Toronto’s rural suburb, Kleinburg (the 10th richest). While the homes of Springbank (5th richest), outside of Calgary, nestle in the foothills of the Rockies, where the deer and the antelope play, Montreal’s Westmount (2nd richest) sits in the centre of one of Canada’s busiest cities.

Of course there are expensive homes and then, jaw-dropping, spectacular homes. The older homes in Toronto’s rich areas are pricey indeed, but are not opulent by the standards of Vancouver’s nouveau riche where a view of the ocean will set you back $20 million, ten times the amount of a house further back from the coast.

Check out our rankings of Canada’s richest postal codes and see if your ‘hood made the list.

viernes, noviembre 11, 2011

Of late, James Pethokoukis, the American Enterprise Institute’s resident economics blogger, has been attempting to “close the case on the inequality myth.” Wednesday’s edition argues that it doesn’t really matter if income inequality has gone up because wealth inequality fell after World War II. I don’t agree with that, but put it aside for a moment.

The paper Pethokoukis quotes argues that “the first and perhaps most obvious factor is the creation and the development of the progressive income and estate tax.” I note this only because Pethokoukis and the American Enterprise Institute are loud, committed advocates for eliminating the estate tax and moving toward a less progressive tax code. They host events on the subject and praise plans for a flat tax that would make the tax code less progressive and put an end to “the death tax.” Over the last decade, they’ve been winning. And wealth inequality, predictably, has been rising.

Pethokoukis’s numbers stretch from 1916 to 2000. In 2001, of course, the George W. Bush tax cuts were passed. The tax code became significantly less progressive, and the estate tax phased out over the course of the decade. In 2001, estates worth more than $675,000 were taxed at 55 percent. In 2011, estates are tax-free until they hit $5 million, and after that, they’re taxed at 35 percent.

martes, octubre 18, 2011

AMERICAblog/ By John Aravosis

And via Andrew Sullivan we learn that the 1970s were the tipping point for when the rich really took over their ownership of much of the country's wealth.

Jeffrey Winters traces America's wealth distribution over time:

The decade from 1970–80 was the turning point in the Great American Inversion. ... By 1990, real incomes for the top 1 percent exceeded the 1920 level threefold and continued to rise thereafter, while those of the majority did not budge. Reversing the pattern of previous decades, the richer you were, the faster gains accrued. It did not matter if Democrats or Republicans were in charge of the White House or Congress. By 2007, the top 1 percent of households had almost five times the real income they had in 1920; the top 0.1 percent had around six times, and the top 0.01 percent were awash in nearly ten times the real income they had enjoyed nine decades earlier.

jueves, octubre 06, 2011

The late Kenneth Thomson, left, who stepped down as the head of his company to let his son David, left, take over, once ranked in Forbes’ Top 15.

Canadian Business Staff

The 13th Annual Rich 100 is a celebration of the best and brightest in Canadian business. This year the list is both a barometer showing how the wealthy and affluent are not immune to world economic chaos and a testimony that Canada is still much better off than many parts of the industrialized.

Once again we see that the Thomson clan is still our richest family but the year has not been kind with the family fortunes dropping 8% — that's $2 billion. Don't feel too badly for them however, the family is still worth more than $20 billion. Times have also been tough for Edward Sampson of Niko Resources who exited the Rich 100 after his personal wealth declined by 38%.

sábado, septiembre 10, 2011

BEIJING, China - Chinese millionaire Su builds skyscrapers in Beijing and is one of the people powering China's economy on its path to becoming the world's biggest.

He sits at the top of a country — economy booming, influence spreading, military swelling — widely expected to dominate the 21st century.

Yet the property developer shares something surprising with many newly rich in China: he's looking forward to the day he can leave.

Su's reasons: He wants to protect his assets, he has to watch what he says in China and wants a second child, something against the law for many Chinese.

The millionaire spoke to The Associated Press on condition that only his surname was used because of fears of government reprisals that could damage his business.

China's richest are increasingly investing abroad to get a foreign passport, to make international business and travel easier but also to give them a way out of China.

The United States is the most popular destination for Chinese emigrants, with rich Chinese praising its education and healthcare systems. Last year, nearly 68,000 Chinese-born people became legal permanent residents of the U.S., seven per cent of the total and second only to those born in Mexico . Canada and Australia are also popular.

It is a bothersome trend for China's communist leaders who've pinned the legitimacy of one-party rule on delivering rapid economic growth and a rising standard of living. They've succeeded in lifting tens of millions of ordinary Chinese out of poverty while also creating a new class of super rich. Yet affluence alone seems a poor bargain to those with the means to live elsewhere.

"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother" - Albert Einstein

"It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office" - H. L. Menken

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented" -Elie Wiesel

"Stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in five years ther'ed be a shortage of sand" - Milton Friedman

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less" - Vaclav Havel